Junior Country Life Library
Country Life, who still publish the magazine of that name, ran a publishing house
in the early years of the last century,
specialising in country related titles.
They published a selection of children’s books, targeted at the children of County
Life readers, on the (presumably well founded) assumption that the children shared
their parents’ countryside interests. Not all the children’s books Country Life
published were pony books, but they formed the major part of the list. Other animals
(and birds) did get a look in: M E Buckingham’s Argh the Tiger being a more memorable
title, together with books about rather more accessible creatures, like Mark Flint’s
Grig the Greyhound and G Cornwallis-
The Junior Country Life Library was a uniform, and cheaper, edition of Country Life’s more popular children’s titles. Each title generally had a black and white illustration on the dustjacket, with a brightly coloured border to add interest. The titles were labeled as first editions: it is more accurate to say that they were first editions in that format. The vast majority of titles had earlier printings which were the first true edition. I have included below the order which was most often published. The list is not complete: what title number 2 and several of its fellows were is still a mystery. Almost all of the surviving printed lists contained the same titles as in the illustration bottom right. To add to the confusion, other titles were occasionally badged as Junior Country Life editions but were not numbered, and didn’t appear to be issued in the standard format.
Marjorie Mary Oliver’s Sea Ponies, hard enough to find in any edition, I’ve only ever seen as a first edition without a suspicion of a coloured border. Maybe it, and its so far unfound fellows, are lurking out there somewhere.
Bearing in mind the amount of advertising the series received, and its low price,
it would seem logical to suppose that more of its titles would have survived if printed.
Perhaps the advent of war, and paper shortages, led to very short runs.
Whatever its print runs, Country Life did its best to sell the series. Country Life also published Riding magazine, and made full use of its sister publication to advertise its titles. It was a rare edition of Riding that passed without an advertisement for a Country Life title, and the Junior Country Life Library had its full share of plugs, both in editorial and advertisement form.
Although cheaper editions, the quality of the Junior Country Lilfe Library was still way ahead of later pony book libraries, such as the Seagull and Collins imprints. The books generally survive in very good order. They are a window into a world long gone.
I’ve included below all the Junior Country Life pony titles I know about. I am
still short of a lot of photographs, so if you can provide any I’d be very grateful
. Please contact me.
Sources:
Country Life titles (the rear cover to the left is from the 1940 printing of Brenda
E Spender’s
On’y Tony)
Riding Magazine, Winter 1941
Riding Magazine Spring, 1942
The titles
The Junior Country Life Library
(pony titles in bold)
1. John Thorburn -
2. John Thorburn -
3. Major John Budden -
4. Richard Ball -
5.
6. M E Buckingham -
7. Brenda E Spender -
8.
9. M E Buckingham -
10. Brenda E Spender -
11. Audrey Blewitt -
12.
13. Brenda E Spender -
14. Marjorie Mary Oliver & Eva Ducat -
15. Marjorie Mary Oliver -
16. Primrose Cumming -
17. Eden Phillpotts -
18. Primrose Cumming -
19. M Garland Bullivant -
20. Nason -
21. K F Barker -
22. K F Barker -
23. Hermione Ratcliff -
24. Cynthia Harnett -
25. Captain J E Hance -
26. Margaret Sackville -
27. Brenda E Spender -
28. Golden Gorse -
29. H W Longden -
30. K F Barker -
31. Golden Gorse -
32. Golden Gorse -
33. M E Buckingham -
34. C E Heanley -
35. C Acton -
36. Mark Flint -
37. Eleanor Helme -
38. Ida Gandy -
39. Phillis Garrard -
40. J Ivester Lloyd -
41. Primrose Cumming -
42. Ann C Edmonds -
43. Pamela Phillips -
44. Mary Mason -
45. Mary Garland Bullivant -
46. Shirley Faulkner -
47. G Cornwallis-
Other titles mentioned as being in the Junior Country Life Library, but not included in any list yet seen:
Anne Bullen -
Naomi Wainwright -
Enid Blyton -
Marjorie Mary Oliver -
Marjorie Mary Oliver & Eva Ducat -
Marjorie Mary Oliver -
Julia Wynmalen -
Marjorie Mary Oliver -
Primrose Cumming -
Joyce Lennon -
ME Buckingham -
Elinore M Havers -
J Ivester Lloyd: The People of the Valley
1. John Thorburn -
7. Brenda E Spender -
13. Brenda E Spender -
19. M Garland Bullivant -
18. Primrose Cumming -
M E Buckingham -
25. Captain J E Hance -
26. Margaret Sackville -
27. Brenda E Spender -
34. C E Heanley -
40. J Ivester Lloyd -
43. Pamela Phillips -
46. Shirley Faulkner -
Other titles not numbered
J Ivester Lloyd -
Anne Bullen & Rosamund Oldfield -